New Mobility: Prepare to Be Disrupted

Forth’s Portland March networking event featured Eliot Rose, Senior Technology Strategist at Metro. Eliot shared Metro’s emerging technology and transportation strategy for the Greater Portland Metro Area in light of the rapid advancements in mobility options.

Through various survey outreach methods, Metro has found that with the popularity of ride-sharing services such as Uber and Lyft, traffic has actually gotten worse. Transit use, which would help improve traffic conditions, has dropped over the past few years with the soaring use of ride-shares.

With many different transportation technologies already in use and on the horizon, Eliot predicts a ‘bumpy ride’ period of several years where the Portland region will sort out what technologies thrive and which ones do not. Autonomous vehicles, bike and car share programs, microtransit and connected vehicles are just a few of the new technologies that will shape our region.

In shaping the transportation future, Eliot explained, equity is of the utmost importance. Making sure that these emerging technologies are within the reach of all populations should be considered at every decision-making point.

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